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The prominent Argentine mezzo-soprano, Noemí Souza, carried out an important and extensive work at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and whose artistic career has had projection to other lyrical centers in America and Europe. She cultivated opera, as well as concert, oratorio, and chamber song.
Since her debut at the Teatro Colón (in 1947), and thanks to her great vocal and musical ductility, Noemí Souza's artistic career continued for more than thirty years singing the most varied roles of her string, and providing recitals and concerts in halls like the one already mentioned: Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Argentino in La Plata, Teatro Solís in Montevideo, Ópera de San Pablo in São Paulo, Ópera de Río de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro, Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima in Peru, Teatro Victoria Eugenia in San Sebastián, Staatstheater Mainz, Kaiserlautern Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, The Town Hall in New York, Ince's Hall in Gibraltar, Academy of Music in Vienna, Les Entretiens Culturels Franco-Italiens in Paris, and Angelicum in Milan, among others.
Noemí Souza made her debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1947, in the role of Berta in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, alongside Bruno Landi, Hilde Reggiani, Gino Bechi, and Salvatore Baccaloni (conducted by Feruccio Calusio). She participated successively in her lyrical and concert seasons until 1977. In this theater, and after measuring herself in small roles, she was: Hänsel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, conducted by Roberto Kinsky (1954) and Feruccio Calusio (1956); Mrs Nolan in Menotti's Medium, conducted by Manfredo Argento (1956); Carlotta in Richard Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau, conducted by Heinz Wallberg (1961) and by Omar Suitner (1968); Oberon in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, conducted by Meredith Davies (in 1961); Pirene in Manuel de Falla's La Atlántida by, conducted by Juan José Castro (1963); Anna in Hector Berlioz' Les Troyens, conducted by Georges Sébastian (1964); Cherubino in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Juan Emilio Martini (1964); Amore in Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, conducted by Bruno Bartoletti (1965); Student in Alban Berg's Lulu, conducted by Ferdinand Leitner (1965); Maddalena in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, conducted by Fernando Previtali (1967); Nakamti in Albert Roussel's Padmavâtî, conducted by Georges Prêtre (1968); Niklausse in Les contes de Hoffmann, conducted by Peter Maag (1969); Herodias in R. Strauss' Salomé, conducted by Bruno D'Astoli (1974 and 1975).
Roles that were added to those of Lola, Siébel, Preciosilla, Suzuky, Mary, Flosshilde, Waltraute, and Norna, among others. She performed the great roles of mezzo-soprano and even dramatic soprano: Dorabella, Charlotte, Carmen, Eboli, Amneris, Adalgisa, Leonora, Jocasta, and Magda Sorel.
Noemí Souza also participated as a concert soloist singing: J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232, Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 and Johannes-Passion BWV 245; G. Verdi's Requiem; L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis; W.A. Mozart's Great Mass in C minor and Requiem; Rossini's the Stabat Mater; Johannes Brahms' Alt-Rhapsodie; Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Das Lied von Die Erde; R. Wagner's Wesendonk Lieder.
Noemí Souza participated in the Argentina premieres of: Antonio Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans (conducted by Lamberto Baldi); J. Haydn's Cäcilienmesse (conducted by Fritz Lehmann); G. Rossini's Petite messe solennelle (conducted by Pedro Valenti Costa); A. Dvorak's Stabat Mater (conducted by Wilhelm Brückner Rüggeber); H. Berlioz's Romeo und Juliet (conducted by Serge Baudo); Frank Martin's Six monologues from Jedermann (conducted by Teodoro Fuchs); Pierre Boulez' Le marteau sans maitre (conducted by Huber Kontwig); André Caplet's Le miroir de Jesus (conducted by Antonio Tauriello); Christian Richter's O amantissime sponse Jesu (conducted by Washington Castro); Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder (conducted by Horst Stein), in which she performed a memorable Waldtaube (Wood Dove), in 1964.
Noemí Souza was named " académica titular " of the Academia Nacional de Música de la Argentina. After her retirement as a singer, she dedicated herself to teaching. Among her pupils were the outstanding mezzo-sopranos Virginia Correa Dupuy and Mabel Perelstein, as well as the Mar del Plata tenor Javier Fontana. |
